seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Italy
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Bangladesh
seen from Türkiye
seen from United Kingdom
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United Kingdom
seen from China
seen from China
Remains of the Dingo Proof Fence
(On my travels)
The Dingo Proof Fence once stretched over 8,000km across Australia, in an effort to keep dingos (Australia's native wild dog) out of sheep country. It was largely successful although by excluding the dingo, the kangaroo and rabbit population climbed (almost exponentially) so the sheep had to compete with the kangaroos to get the grass.
Parts of the fence are still in use, but this part of Qld is now cattle country.
Aim of this fence is to keep dingoes from cattle grazing country to the south: its 5,614km long.
Mending Fences in the War Between Dingoes and Sheep
By Serena Solomon, NY Times, Jan. 7, 2018
COOBER PEDY, Australia--Driving through South Australia’s outback, it does not take long to see why patrol officers like Alan Walton are needed to keep the country’s 3,500-mile long dingo fence in order.
Early into a recent workday, Mr. Walton watched as a kangaroo--perhaps driven by the potential for greener pastures or a mate on the other side--slammed full-throttle into the fence, bouncing off like a boxer hitting the ropes.
Within minutes, Mr. Walton, 54, crawled his pickup truck, known locally as a ute, past the battered section of the fence. This time, the barrier was not breached. Other times, Mr. Walton has had to patch holes in the wire, stabilize a post or untangle an offending kangaroo.
The idea of the dingo fence is simple: to keep feral dogs and dingoes on one side of the wire and vulnerable sheep farms on the other. First built by settlers in the 19th century, the fence is a legendary presence in the outback.
The dingo fence, a network of wires and posts, runs from the southern coast to near the eastern coast in a squiggly line, almost twice the length of the United States-Mexico border. Some parts have stood for more than 100 years.
Fixing the fence in South Australia (it also crosses into the states of New South Wales and Queensland) falls to seven patrol officers. Each is responsible for a section that divides arid land, where humans rarely tread. Mr. Walton oversees a 200-mile stretch near Coober Pedy, a quirky opal-mining town about nine hours’ drive north of Adelaide.
“They do a hell of a lot of damage,” Mr. Walton said of dingoes, the sandy-colored wild dogs native to the continent. “If you keep that in your mind, it’s probably the most important thing I do--protecting the people, their stock and their livelihood.”
The fence-fixing expedition with Mr. Walton started well before dawn on a dirt road that deteriorated the further it got from the highway. He visits the fence two or three times a month, often camping in the bush with a swag, a hybrid of a tent and a sleeping bag.
“You will probably see a few areas where it looks like someone got bogged down here,” said Mr. Walton, before adding with pride, “It was me.” Once his ute was stuck in the mud for three days.
Out here, cellphone reception is nonexistent. Not long after he started as a patrol officer, almost three years ago, Mr. Walton bought a satellite phone. The bogging and a run-in with a poisonous snake, he said, had shown it to be a worthwhile investment.
Mr. Walton drove along the fence for hours, scanning for holes in the wire, or tunnels dug underneath it by dingoes. He looked across the expanse of his office, a desert so vast you might swear you can see the curvature of the earth. Breaking up the monotony, a mob of emus raced alongside the ute.
In South Australia, the battle against the dingo began in the late 1800s, when ranchers built the first dog-proof fences and patrols were done on camelback.
Over the decades, individual efforts morphed into a single fence in South Australia, which now costs about 1.3 million Australian dollars, or $1 million, a year to maintain. Even with the fence, dingoes and other wild dogs cost the agricultural industry about $65 million annually, according to the Center for Invasive Species Solutions. This damage is incurred both in and outside the fence and across a range of livestock.
“When you’re lambing, the dog just has to walk through the mob and upset the ewes,” said Richard Treloar, a sheep farmer with two properties protected by the fence. Last year, a few dingoes got through the fence and terrorized his ewes, causing them to abandon their young to die. He was left with 40 percent fewer lambs than the previous year.
In addition to repairing the fence, Mr. Walton dropped poisoned bait every few miles along the wire. In case he spots a dog on the wrong side of the barrier, he carries a rifle.
If the job seems mundane or lonely, Mr. Walton described it as a dream come true.
“I think it takes a certain person to do it, but the guys that do it tend to love it,” Michael Balharry, executive officer of the Dog Fence Board, said of the patrollers. Contracts are competitive and patrollers stay in the post for years. The person Mr. Walton replaced was more than 70 and did the job for four decades, Mr. Balharry said.
Mr. Walton is just happy to be part of a long line of dingo fence patrollers. “It’s an amazing fence,” he said. “I suppose when I retire, it will be nice to look back and say ‘I did that.’”
Route of the Dingo Fence and Rabbit Proof Fences of Australia.
Map of the dingo fence in Australia. At a length of 5,614 km (3,488 mi) it is the longest fence in the world.
Dingo Fence
Dingo Fence Salvation for the Sheep and a Barrier to Wildlife (Australia)
Dingo Fence
The prosperity of the Australian economy, since the XIX century, was largely dependent on the development of such industries as sheep. The first enemy of farmers on the path of prosperity in such an important matter became wild dogs that are constantly hunted sheep.
View On WordPress
(if you're happy, then i'm happy)
Things I hate about visiting home: Laying in bed listening to the new SDF album and my mother (who is still convinced that, at 22, I only listen to "devil music") walks in on Patrick chanting "All the dumb cocks, they get what they want", stares at me, and slams my door shut.
